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Pioneering face transplant may become available on NHS

Face transplants could be provided on the NHS after regulators confirmed this weekend that they were in early talks to authorise state funding.

With a team of British surgeons planning to carry out the world's first full face transplants on four patients, the body that decides whether to fund highly specialised treatments said it was preparing to make an assessment for the NHS.

The National Commissioning Group (NCG) said it would need to decide in the near future whether the costs, estimated at £25,000 for each transplant, should be met from the public purse.

Peter Butler, clinical director of surgery at the Royal Free hospital in north London, hopes to lead a team of British surgeons in the first operation of its kind within 12 months.

The cost of the first four operations will be met from charitable funds but the surgeons believe that once the transplants have been shown